The revival of interest in
the glories of the Late Medieval English Church
has come at a happy time. Over the last fifteen
years or so, Eamon Duffy, Jack Scarisbrick and
the rest have shown us that the English
Reformation was not as cut and dried as we'd
thought it was. What is more, they have done so
using original artifacts as well as original
sources. As a result, the art objects of medieval
England have once again become enchanted in our
imaginations, and been reclaimed from the dry and
dusty studies of academics and research students.

Our renewed fascination with the
buildings and their contents has coincided with
the rapid growth of cheap, easy, democratic
technology. No longer is church photography the
preserve of the tooled-up professional. A gifted
amateur can spend a couple of hundred pounds on a
decent digital camera, and get fabulous results.
Nobody talks about coffee table books as a genre
anymore - these days, we expect all books to be
well illustrated.

And then, of course, there
is the genealogy thing, and also the Da Vinci
Code thing. Suddenly, the past looks as if
it has become positively sexy. Perhaps this is
not surprising. We live in a society which is
fast changing, and no longer deeply-rooted.
People are yearning for something beyond
themselves, a touchstone if you like, back to
where they came from and how they came to be
here.

Roger Rosewell's splendid
book, now available on Amazon, is typical of this new generation
in historical publishing. It is a book written by
an enthusiast for enthusiasts, lavishly
illustrated, and including photographs by some of
those gifted amateurs. In 380 pages, Medieval
Wall Paintings can offer no less than 252 colour
photographs. Digital photography is ideally
suited to the recording of wall paintings.
Enhancement by image software can bring out the
tones and nuances that the centuries have made
oblique. Sometimes, it is as if we are seeing
them properly for the first time.

The book begins with a
history of Christian wall paintings in England
and Wales, from the 4th century symbols at
Lullingstone Villa in Kent to the elaborate
schemes at the start of the 16th century which
suggest to us what an English Church Renaissance
might have been like. Wall paintings were an
essential feature of English churches for about
five hundred years, and Rosewell explores how
historical and liturgical developments during
this time led to changes in the style, subjects
and significance of the paintings. He correctly
notes the effects that the Black Death would have
on liturgy and devotion, with an increasing focus
on the Last Things, of death and judgement, with
an inevitable change in emphasis in the subjects
of paintings. The Black Death's consequent
economic boom then led to many new painting
schemes paid for by enthusiastic donors, with the
inevitable result that today we often find wall
paintings overlaying older ones.

Rosewell follows the
history with the subjects themselves. This
exhaustive survey ranges widely, from commonly
found Biblical scenes and devotional images to
those which were essentially catechetical, the
images of Saints and other rarer subjects which
seem more allegorical than anything else.
Rosewell goes on to explore those responsible for
the production of wall paintings, the patrons and
the painters, and the techniques used to produce
them. The technical details in this section are
particularly valuable, and answer a number of
questions that had been nagging me for years. He
conjures up a vivid image of the painters at work
using '...large brushes made of hogs' bristles...
ideal for undercoating...' while, for smaller
details, '...pointed brushes made from squirrel
tales are recorded.' They dipped their brushes
into 'shells of oysters, scallops and mussels...
used as palettes'. We see these artists atop
'scaffolds... made of timber, such as alder,
which could be grown straight and tall very
quickly'.

A chapter follows on what
Rosewell calls 'meaning and understanding', and
perhaps this is the one weak section of the book.
This is, after all, an art book rather than a
work of theology, and it is difficult to
comprehend how wall paintings were actually used
without an understanding of Catholic belief and
practice, and the way it was located and
expressed in often remote communities in the
centuries before the Reformation. Rosewell wisely
adds the caveat that we should not
regard wall paintings as 'books for the
illiterate' or 'poor men's bibles'. It's a
valiant effort, but when he needs to explain that
the Mass was '...a ceremony of the miraculous,
involving prayers and scriptural readings or
chanting which transformed consecrated bread into
the body and blood of Christ as a physical
presence...' as if this was the arcane activity
of some long-lost sect, rather than the living
belief and practice of millions of people
worldwide today, you know that it is going to be
difficult for him to tie together what is
happening on the walls with what is going on in
people's heads and hearts.

For many people, the most
useful and enjoyable part of the book will be the
gazetteer. This contains five hundred churches
with significant schemes of wall paintings, with
descriptions of what you will find when you get
there. Many of them are illustrated elsewhere in
the book. I have to say that the sections for
Norfolk and Suffolk, the two counties I know
best, appear exhaustive and flawless. Finally, an
excellent subject guide tells you where to find
particular images around the country.

I have carried this hugely
enjoyable book about the house for a couple of
weeks now, dipping into it with delight. I can't
imagine that anyone with more than a passing
interest in wall paintings would not similarly
fall upon it and feast. At 24cm by 17cm, the book
is big enough to accomodate detailed images of
all but the most complex schemes, and as they are
printed on quality paper, some of the details are
superb.

I do wonder if this lovely
book risks falling between two stools. Although
good value at £40, it is perhaps too expensive
to be as popular as it deserves. Conversely, it
is probably not academic enough to become the
standard text on the subject. But any church
explorer will find so much to delight them that I
can only suggest you start stockpiling the
birthday book tokens now.